Category Archives: Minnesota
Making the most of a short season
Benefit ride for the St. Cloud Children’s Home
The motorcycle season is short in Minnesota. It says so right on the back cover of my book, Ride Minnesota. Now that we’ve left winter behind, we’re in the rainy season when thunderstorms can crop up just in time for rush hour and dampen your ride home from work.
A lot of people ride their motorcycles to work. I temped recently at Thomson Reuters in Eagan and entire sections of the parking lots (there are multiple lots) were designated solely for motorcycles. It’s nice to have a motorcycle-friendly employer. Motorcycling to work not only saves money on gas, it also gets you there sooner, thanks to the diamond lanes on metro freeways.
Still, there’s nothing like riding two-lane blacktop on a sunny day. Discovering what’s just beyond that next curve lends an air of mystery to a ride, whether it’s another set of curves, an uphill climb or a cow grazing peacefully in a nearby pasture.
Today’s gray, rainy weather gives me another chance to work on building my retail network. Here’s a list of places where you can purchase Ride Minnesota. Here’s to sunnier days ahead!
Eat My Words Bookstore, 1228 2nd St. N.E., Minneapolis. MN 55413
Harley-Davidson Shop of Winona, 1845 Mobil Drive, Winona, MN 55987
Indian Motorcycle Twin Cities, 2967 Hudson Rd., St. Paul, MN 55128
Mankato Harley-Davidson, 1200 N. River Drive, Mankato, MN 56001
Northway Sports, 21429 Ulysses St. N.E., East Bethel, MN 55011
Route 65 Classics, 14954 Aberdeen St. N.E., Ham Lake, MN 55304
St. Paul Harley-Davidson, 2899 Hudson Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55128
Trav’s Outfitter, 7315 Hwy. 65 N.E., Fridley, MN 55432
Twin Cities Harley-Davidson-Blaine, 1441 85th Ave. N.E., Blaine, MN 55449
Twin Cities Harley-Davidson-Lakeville, 10770 165th St. W., Lakeville, MN 55044
SubText Books, 165 Western Ave. N., St. Paul, MN 55102
Zylstra Harley-Davidson, 19600 Evans St NW, Elk River, MN 55330
Splitting the lanes
Ralph and I just spent a week in southern California, which has to be — weather-wise — motorcycle heaven, especially when you get away from stinky, exhaust fume-ridden I-5 (“The 5”, as it’s called locally). Getting off the freeway allows you to follow the coast, drive along citrus orchards and make you feel like you own the world.
Fresh ocean breezes notwithstanding, California has a law that scares the hell out of me. The Golden State allows motorcyclists to “split” the traffic lanes. Maybe it’s because I’m still relatively new to motorcyclng, but I find it unnerving to have a biker come up from behind me, swerve to the white line between the lanes of stopped or slow-moving vehciles and zip to the head of the line. I worry about their safety, especially when traffic moves a little faster. It would be so easy to get a little too close, bounce off a car and end up on the pavement. Whitelining is allowed in Texas, too, and in England, where motorcyclists sneak up on you from the left. In Minnesota, the freeways have designated motorcycle lanes, for which I am grateful.
I’ll be doing some “splitting” of a different kind this weekend. I’ll be at the Fury Motorcycle open house tomorrow morning from 10:00-1:00, promoting Ride Minnesota. Then I’ll move up to East Bethel for the open house at Northway Sports from 2:00-4:00. Yesterday afternoon, I heard back-to-back commercials for both on KQRS. Let’s hope the weather is better than predicted!
Changing seasons, changing attitudes
The road to Mesa Verde, Colorado.
Just when you think riding season can really begin, ol’ Mother Nature comes and gives you an unkind gesture once again. Who said it could be 20 degrees and snowing (tomorrow) this late in April? Spring is always an uphill battle in Minnesota. On the upside, the unseasonable cold has given me time to do a little more vacation planning.
I received a package of tourism info from Wisconsin yesterday. There’s a lot of unexplored motorcycle country in our neighbor to the east. And the Badger State is beginning to promote it. (C’mon, Minnesota, get your tourism act together!) In fact, many states are realizing that motorcycle tourism is a good thing.
According to the Rider Friendly Business Association (a Canadian group), there are more than 11 million potential motorcyclist/tourists in the U.S. and Canada, and they spend an average of $3,100 per vacation trip. That’s roughly $34 billion spent in the form of gas, hotels, food, entertainment and stops at tourist attractions. Motorcycle tourists can be big economic stimulators!
Of course, we’ll have to get the non-motorcycling public to change its perception of bikers. A few years ago, Ralph and I stopped in Durango, Colorado, for the night. We pulled into the Holiday Inn, which had a Green Mill restaurant attached to it. I went to the front desk to inquire about the availablility of a room. I was still in my full leathers, my hair cropped super-short to avoid having to deal with helmet hair. The sole was coming off of my old steel-toed work boots and I probably looked pretty travel-worn since leaving Arizona that morning. The young woman at the desk informed me that the hotel was full. “By the way,” she said as I thanked her and turned to leave, “for your future reference, rooms are $150 per night.” As if I couldn’t afford it. I felt as angry and misunderstood as Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.”
We drove down the street to the Travelodge, where the rooms were cheaper and ate at a fantastic Italian restaurant across the street. And had a far better time than we would have at the Green Mill.
Motorcycle Fever
“Got your Harley out yet, Karen?” I asked my neighbor yesterday afternoon. She has a beautiful blue Softail. “No. The snow has to be completely gone and all the sand swept up before I ride,” she replied.
Mother Nature put the damper on the start of the motorcycle season here in Minnesota last week. On Thursday, she dumped 8 inches of wet, heavy snow on the Twin Cities and more in rural areas. It’s enough to make you scream. By suppertime yesterday, the temperature had climbed to 62 degrees and there were only a few humps of snow left around the neighborhood — if you don’t count the shady sides of houses and the hard, black-crusted mountains stacked in parking lots, vacant lots and just about anywhere anyone can think of to pile large quantities of unwanted snow.
My neighbor is not alone in her caution. Yet there are motorcyclists out on the streets and highways, dodging potholes and braving sandy intersections because they just. can’t. wait. any. longer. Motorcycle fever has set in. The desire to feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair (or across your helmet) is irresistable, urgent. On weekends, the dealerships are crowded with people checking out new bikes, buying new clothing. Some are even picking up copies of Ride Minnesota.
I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of tourism materials from Wisconsin so Ralph and I can plan some summer rides. In the meantime, our great-niece in California has sent us a Flat Stanley. After reading the book in school, she has sent him to us so that we can bring him along on some adventures. If he’s lucky, Flat Stanley will get to ride on Uncle Ralph’s Victory some time this week.
Signs of Spring
I am so sick of this long Minnesota winter I could chew roofing nails! It definitely was a lot more fun when I was a kid and played in the snow and didn’t worry about breaking my bones. Ah, but there are signs of spring, despite below-zero temperatures (at the end of February? Ya gotta be kidding me!).
The first sign is a review of Ride Minnesota in the March issue of Thunder Press, a tabloid that reaches some 60-70-80,000 Harley Davidson owners. I can’t wait to see it.
As a result of that review, I received a call from Audrey Johnson, who organized the Motorcycle Life Expo that Ralph and I attended earlier this month (in a snowstorm). She’s got a booth at the upcoming Donnie Smith Motorcycle Show at the St. Paul River Centre, and asked me if I’d like to join her and sell my book at her booth. Would I! I’m already checking my booth supplies. I think I’ll need to order more books.
The third sign is an invitation to do a reading of Ride Minnesota at Eat My Words Bookstore here in “Nordeast” Minneapolis. I’m so excited that Scott and his son, Peter, are hosting this event. It happens at 3:00 p.m. on March 22. The store already has copies of the book on consignment, but I’ll bring more copies.
I’m revving my book marketing engine. By the time the snow melts and Ralph and I can get on the highways, it’ll be in high gear.
Creeping Toward Spring
Like many Minnesotans, I am really tired of the meteorological roller coaster we’ve been on since, well, Christmas. It’s been so cold for so long even the icicles have stopped growing.
There has been some relief on the weekends when the temperature slowly wiggles its way up to 15 degrees. This past Saturday I took time to visit a new bookstore in “Nordeast”, Eat My Words. It’s on 2nd St. and 12th Ave. N.E., across the street from Dangerous Man Brewing (their chocolate beer is wicked) and kitty-corner from St. Cyril & St. Methodius Church. Eat My Words deals in rare and used books and books by local authors. The owner took three copies of Ride Minnesota on consignment, and we talked about doing an event in March.
The days are slowly getting longer, if not warmer. Bikers are definitely thinking about spring. Ralph and I are heading to another motorcycle show this Saturday, the Motorcycle Life Expo, at the National Sports Center in Blaine. I’ll make more book marks this week to hand out as we mingle with the bikers.
Spring’s gotta come sometime!
Googling Myself
Okay, I admit it. This is work-avoidance at its most digital. I was looking up information on an attorney in Texas and decided to see what comes up these days when my name is typed into Google. I found this blog, my website, mentions about organizations I belong to, references to my out-of-print books and this review of Ride Minnesota from Clutchandchrome.com. Trolling further, I found myself in the newsletter of the Viking Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. It’s nice to know my PR efforts yielded some fruit.
At -1 below zero, only a true nut would ride a motorcycle today (if it would even start! Ours is up on a stand for the winter.). It’s a good day to stay close to the fire (or the radiator, in our case) with hot chocolate and a book. Preferably one on motorcycling in Minnesota…
Once is Never Enough
We’ve heard a lot lately about bikers showing off–popping wheelies and performing dangerous stunts in traffic. Perhaps the worst is the gang-banging that took place in New York last week. Authorities there are still trying to sort out what really happened, but it sounds like a minor bump from the SUV to a motorcycle spiraled out of control. And then there’s the Minnesota woman who was drunk and drove into a man and a woman on a motorcycle. They’re dead because she cross the center line. I have a T-shirt from a recent book siging at Northway Sports, It’s from Allstate Insurance and it says, “Once is never enough. Look twice for motorcycles.”
You won’t have to look twice for me tomorrow at the Twin Cities Book Festival. It’s at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, in the Progress building. (That’s the north end of the fairgrounds. The Salem Lutheran Church Diner –where you can buy Scandinavian egg coffee during the fair– is just in front of the door.) The festival runs from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and there are author lectures and book signings going on all over the place. My table–111–is on an outside row, across the aisle from Rain Taxi’s used book sale. I couldn’t be happier with my placement. I’ve signs and a big poster advertising Ride Minnesota. I have my Square for credit card sales, which I’m eager to try out. The biggest temptation will be to refrain from visiting all the other tables and coming home with a big load of books. (So many books, so little time!)
I hear the weather is going to be good tomorrow, if a little windy. If you’re out riding, come in a browse some books. If you’re a bookworm like me, well, you know what to do!
Fall Riding
Victory Motorcycles just posted on Facebook about adding a windshield to your motorcycle so you can better enjoy fall riding. While it cuts down on the wind, a windshield isn’t the only reason to get out and ride this fall. There’s the sunlight on your back and shoulders, the fresh breezes and, of course, the fall colors.
The colors here in Minnesota are delayed by a couple of weeks, thanks to the winter that lingered into … May. Ralph and I were in north central Minnesota last weekend, and the ash trees were the only yellow we saw. Poison ivy or Virginia creeper (who’s going to get close enough to find out which?) provided splashes of red. Otherwise, everything is still summer green.
The weather-guessers have already changed the weekend forecast from rain on Saturday to showers ending by early afternoon. In a couple more days, the rain may evaporate completely!
If you’re out riding on Saturday, stop in at Northway Sports for their fall open house. I’ll be there, selling and signing copies of Ride Minnesota.
Ride Minnesota 